As a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 9,” Cameron Dollar (9-2) had a brief taste of life on the big stage.

Falling to British product Andre Winner in the tournament’s semifinals, Dollar was invited to fight on the show’s live finale, where his octagon dreams were ended by a Jason Dent submission.

Two years later, Dollar has scored five-straight wins and now headlines Friday night’s Legacy Fighting Championships 7 event in Houston. A win could put Dollar closer to the big stage. But the 24-year-old isn’t rushing anything. He’s just hoping to find a bigtime manager.

“I don’t really have a big-name manager,” Dollar told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I’ve just had a lot of friends and good people help me out. to get me where I am now.

“I’m looking at this being pretty much my second chance. I think that’s going to open opportunities for bigger management – get on board with some real professional people, be looked after and make a life in one of the bigger shows.”

Dollar admits his lack of proper representation is probably as much his fault as anyone else’s. He’s had a few conversations with top representation, but none have really pitched him with a hard sell. Dollar’s hoping a win over veteran Carlo Prater in the HDNet-televised main event will help create a sense of urgency among potential managers.

“Nobody has really approached me,” Dollar said. “It has been kind of by me by choice though, too, because it’s a two-way street. I could definitely look for or seek out one of those guys, too, but I’ve talked to Alchemist. I’ve talked to SuckerPunch. I’ve talked to Mike Roberts about legal stuff and whatnot and different things about how they work – just try and get more educated. But it’s kind of been by my own choice, I guess. Nobody has come after me though.”

In the meantime, Dollar has relied on a friend to handle his financial wrangling while he works solely on improving himself as a mixed martial artist.

“I’ve got good friends,” Dollar said. “I’ve got to give it up to my buddy Leonard. Leonard never really knew anything about it. He was just a big fan, got into it. I kind of hooked him up with some numbers and some contacts I had, and he’s taken care of everything else. I try to just focus on the fight.

“I can’t be the middleman also, talking money, talking business before the fights. He does all that stuff for me for right now. But he’s just a good friend, and we’ve been doing it off of a good-friend basis and been able to keep that relationship.”

Which is all well and good on the regional stage. But on the eve of a nationally-televised appearance, Dollar is ready to progress past that level. He’s gone undefeated since his “TUF” run, and all five wins have come via first-round submission. He’s fought at featherweight in the interim, but a new supplement program and increased focus on diet have seen Dollar bulk up, and he’ll face Prater at lightweight.

It’s no small order. Prater has faced some of the very best fighters in the world. But if Dollar can continue his post-“TUF” streak, he hopes maybe his phone will start to ring.

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